Veendam NE & Eastern Canada Aug 23-30

[tone]

I am writing this review because I have benefitted so much over the years from information from other Cruise Critic contributors. So I thought I needed to do my part and share information on what my experiences on my cruise. These are my personal views and I hope some information will be of assistance to others.

 

We arrived in Boston 2 nights before embarkation. We arrived late on Thursday night and proceeded to a great Japanese fusion restaurant called O Ya. Chefs have innovative dishes but the star is the sashimi…..very high quality and fresh.

 

We stayed at the Hilton Boston Faneuil Hall. Great location, rooms are spacious but a bit dated. A bit noisy but to be expected downtown. Concierge is great but everyone else has no clue about giving directions. Would still recommend staying there if you can get a good price as it is very convenient.

 

The next day we visited the Museum of Fine Arts, which is a must see when you are in Boston. Has a spectacular collection and well laid out. Children and adults will equally enjoy it. Be sure to take the $5 self guided tour. Really enhances the experience and allows you to know more about the works you are interested in. Also discount for AAA/CAA members.

 

Had a great dinner at Deuxave. Almost seems like a bistro setting but once you are inside, it is high end food and service. Innovative without being pretentious. Close to Michelin star level and I believe one of the best restaurants in Boston

 

Embarkation: We got to Black Falcon cruise terminal around 11:00 am and we were on board a little after noon. Cruise terminal is pretty close to downtown so easy to get to. Embarkation was very smooth and organized. Probably helped that we got there before the rush but even later on, it seemed very organized. Rooms were not ready so we proceeded to each lunch up at the Lido. Since it was early, it was not crowded. Asked about the Mariner lunch but was told to proceed to Lido. Lots of times I think staff are a little clueless as to some of the activities going on.

 

As an extra perk as an AE Platinum card holder, you get a dinner for 2 at the Pinnacle Grill. We got a card in our room stating that our reservation was for 6 pm that night. I phoned Pinnacle and they would not allow me to change the date of the dinner but did allow me to change the time.

 

You should make sure you check your room carefully for cards/gifts. I heard so many people at the end of the cruise say they were unaware of their OBC or they didn't see their beverage card. Confusing since sometimes you get OBC, sometimes you get a card. I got both OBC and a beverage card. Also, easy to miss the Pinnacle Grill perk if you were not looking for it. It is important to read everything you get as you will miss lots of opportunities (like Mariner's lunch, 2 for 1 entries into casino tournaments, etc).

 

We signed up for anytime dining. Those people who have trouble with anytime dining just don’t understand how it works. Immediately, when I got to my room, I made a reservation for the next 2 nights. For one night I got 7:15 pm and the next night I got 7:45 pm. On many nights, I saw people line up for quite awhile in the “no reservation” line. Can’t see how people can complain if they are not prepared to make reservations in advance. If you want the best times, then phone immediately each morning (since you can only book 2 days in advance) to reserve your time. Even if it is not the exact time you want, you should still book a time. On each successive night, we booked for 7:45 pm but our table was ready by 7:15- 7:30 each night. Talk to the section head and see if you can get the same table or same section each night. You have to have some flexibility and also be prepared to commit to a time each night. This makes it easier than if you want to eat at 5:30 one night and 7:00 pm the next night. And be sure to be nice….the wait staff are people too….if you are nice, flexible and cooperative, they will treat you the same way. I see too many guests with the attitude that they are on vacation so they can be completely ridiculous with their requests. I got better service on this cruise in anytime dining than in Pinnacle Grill or at fixed seating on other cruises.

 

Our experience at the Pinnacle Grill was not a good one. They seemed to take themselves too seriously. I was going to order a nice bottle of wine but the wine steward had absolutely no wine knowledge at all so I decided to pass and just order a couple of glasses of wine. Dinner was OK and service was abysmal. Resolved I was definitely not coming to Pinnacle again this week.

 

We had an outside balcony cabin 120 on Verandah deck. Great for this type of cruise since you can use the balcony to take pictures coming into each port. We used room service every day to get breakfast and it was prompt. You get more selection in Lido but it is so convenient to have breakfast in your room, especially for those early mornings.

 

We bought the unlimited laundry package right away when we got on board for $49. Gives you unlimited laundry during your cruise and usually, they get back your laundry to you in 24 hours or less. We had built up some laundry during our days in Boston so we asked our room steward for 2 laundry bags and filled them up. Considering a bag of laundry is $20, we got our money's worth since we probably had 6-7 bags washed during the trip. A bit tricky how you do this. You need to go down to front office and sign up in person for unlimited laundry. Then you can fill out your laundry sheet and give your room steward the laundry. If you don't do this immediately, you miss the first day or two of unlimited laundry, which cuts down the appeal of the package.

 

Like many of you, we asked the room steward to empty out our fridge in the room. We were given a complementary bottle of Champagne as an AE Platinum member so we stored that in our fridge and brought some Cokes in board.

 

This is part 1. Will go through the on board services I used in my next post.

[sail7seas]

Great review. I'm really enjoying and looking forward to more.

DH and I sailed Veendam Boston to Boston last August and were very pleasantly surprised. She exceeded our expectations. :)

 

[mskaufman]

Glad you did not have a problem with ATD. When we were on Veendam in July they would not give a reservation between 5:45 and 7:15. Yes, if you wanted 7:15 or 7:30 there was no problem. The problem was if you wanted 6:30.

[Lisa63]

Great tips! I look forward to reading more. We were on the Veendam the week before you were.

[PathfinderEss]

Enjoying your review, looking forward to more.........

[tone]

I should add that cabin 120 was a bit close to the elevator and stairs so you could hear some noise. Problem on Veendam is that all suites a BA and A category suites are near the middle of the ship either above the casino or below the Lido deck. I think you if you can you want to the end suites.

 

We didn't use that many services but here are my thoughts on the ones we used.

 

Entertainment: unless you are older, you will not find the entertainment in Veendam that attractive. I saw a few minutes of some shows and not really that entertaining so I would pass on this.

 

The casino is small. No craps table or baccarat. Personally, I think it is hard to make money on blackjack since they play with 8 decks and the video poker gives pretty lousy odds. Go to the tournaments as they give out buy 1, get one free coupon books and offer 3 entries for the price of 2. If you entering a tournament, do so early as for the blackjack tournament, lots of people had 2 for 1 coupons but couldn't use them since there was not enough time before the finals.

 

The Explorers Lounge is a great place to relax. They have some neat snack that are complementary (small open faced sandwiches, energy bars). Nice place to go if they are changing over between afternoon and dinner in Lido.

 

Workout facilities are adequate. Veendam has basketball and tennis courts. If you don't see a ball on the basketball court, go to front desk to sign one out. Veendam also has shuffleboard, ping pong and a large Chess board on the Lido deck.

 

One service I really enjoyed was the free DVD movies. You can only check out 1 movie at a time but they have many different titles. Phone them first to see if they have it. They can deliver the movie to your room but it is faster to pick up from front desk.

 

Played trivia. Don't expect to win unless you can get almost all the questions. There are some pretty good players but it is fun at least.

 

Art auction is good for free champagne and free 8 x 10 art piece. I also enjoyed the on board cooking and computer seminars.

 

Tip: bring zip lock bags to bring a snack for excursion and water bottle. In addition, for this cruise bring binoculars as you are very close to shore so binoculars are useful when you are nearing port.

 

This is Part 2 of my review. My next post will go through each port and what we did there.

[KruzPrincess]

Thanks for the report. I'll be heading off on the Veendam soon, so I'm enjoying reading your thoughts.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review. We have never done that itinerary so looking forward to your port comments.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I am enjoying your review and looking forward to the rest.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.

Looking forward to reading more.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for the review...

[Cruiser Andi]

We got off the Veendam on August 23rd when you were getting on. We loved the back to back Boston cruise and the Veendam was wonderful. I, too, however had a huge problem with the Pinnacle restaurant. The service was outright rude and disrespectful. So much so that I cancelled two more reservations there. One of them being the Le Cirque night. They didn't even care when I explained that it was due to rude service. I would sail Veendam again because everything else was superb.

[Deep68]

We too were on the same cruise as the OP. Our experiences were very similar.

We also had issues in the Pinnacle. The service was really slow but luckily the staff were polite and the wine waiter did let us order a wine from the main dining room menu.

 

We won the pub trivia one night but only because we joined up with another 2 couples. There were certainly some serious players on board - but it was always fun :)

[erewhon]

Thanks for reviewing your cruise.

[KruzPrincess]

Does anyone remember what movies were showing? Thanks.

[tone]

OK, now to the ports:

 

Bar Harbor: there from 7 - 3 pm so not a lot of time to do stuff. We needed to tender so that took some time to get to shore. Once on shore, town is very walkable. Lots to see in terms of shopping for souvenirs. We ate lunch at Stewman's Lobster Pound. Got there around 11 am so no one was outside so we had the whole patio to ourselves. Great place to take pictures. Wonderful lobster and not too expensive. Get lobsters in the 1.5 to 2 pound range.

 

Halifax: we used Halifax Cruise Ship Taxi Tours for a private tour. Stuart showed us around for about 5 hours. A little more expensive for a private tour but you can see so much more. We went to Dalhousie University, the Titanic Grave site, Citadel, bought some maple syrup, public gardens and Peggy's Cove. Nice thing is that we can stay as long or as little time as we want at each place. Had a great lunch at Ryers lobsters. Just by the road but the lobsters are out of this world. The lobsters were alive about 30 minutes before we ate them so they were fresh!

 

Sydney: of the ports, I think this is one that can be skipped. Sydney itself doesn't have very much to see. It has Fortress Louisbourg on one end, the Cabot Trail and the Alexander Graham Bell museum on the other side. Problem is that it is impossible to see everything in one day and impossible to do justice to the Cabot Trail without being here overnight. We used Don Blackwood for a private tour. He was good but Fortress Louisbourg is about 45minutes away without much interesting in between. Fortress Louisbourg was fun but all the building are rebuilt and not original so that takes away from the experience. Fun but lots of walking. Seeing the cannons fire was the highlight. Good but not as good as other ports on this cruise

 

Charlottetown: our favourite port. The weather was beautiful. Once of the ship, you see the Big Fiddle. We were with Terry of Duncan Island Tours and he was a wonderful tour guide. Funny and knowledgeable. We enjoyed Delvey by the Sea, Great George Street and where the Conferedation meetings were held and Confederation Bridge. Had a great lunch at the Charlottetown Preserve company. Not only do they have great preserves, the restaurant serves mussels and lobster pot pie.

 

Sailing the St. Lawrence - this was a bit disappointing, maybe because of the weather. Couldn't see very much, water was choppy and I think when we got near to Quebec City is was early morning so not scenic at the right times.

 

Quebec City - ship is right near old town so very convenient. We enjoyed the hop on hop off bus offered by Les Tours des Vieux Quebec. You don't really get to hop off...just take the entire circuit, which takes around 1 hr 40 min. Walk up to Place des Armes near the Chateau Frontenac as this is the first stop and you can get a seat on the top deck. If you try to get on near the dock, you will never get a seat upstairs. Then we went to the Musee du Fort for a short presentation about the attacks throughout the years on Quebec.

 

After that we had lunch at Bistro La Sam inside the Chateau Frontenac. Not that expensive but great view. Make reservations or else you will be sitting inside instead of at a window seat. Walked back down towards the ship and stopped at Petit Champlain street and had some maple syrup on a stick.

 

So convenient to be on the ship overnight. Saves a tonne of money in hotel costs. After having dinner on board, we went back out at and walked around old town after dinner.

 

Quebec is very walkable. To get up the Chateau Frontenac, you can either walk up around 200 stairs or take the funicular for $2.25 per person. Both experiences are fun.

 

On our 2nd day in Quebec, we got off the ship around 9 am and just stored our luggage at the port for $4 bag. Luggage storage does not close until 5 pm so lots of time to walk around on the 2nd day.

 

We went on the 2nd day to Montmerey Falls. Again used Les Tours du Vieux Quebec...might be cheaper to take a taxi up there but it was very convenient for us. Spent about 2 hours up there, which was plenty and then went back to old town and went to this great restaurant called Panache. Very innovative food but service a bit aloof.

 

Finally went to Musee de Civilization. They had an exhibit from Berlin on Greek/Roman sculptures.

 

For those who are going on Veendam soon, we had some of best service we have ever experienced on cruise ships during this cruise Our room stewards were Iman and Rizki and our dining room waiters were Putu Eddy, Andy and Desri. The 2 wine stewards I dealt with were Mel and Joan. All wonderfully friendly and great service.

 

That's my review!

[Homala]

Thank you so much for your interesting and helpful review. DH and I are going on the Veendam in May (Boston to Bermuda) and we can't wait. It will be our third HAL cruise and first on the Veendam. I've read some not-so-great reviews on the V (as we all have), so I love to read what seem to be better reviews these days. We're considering Canada next! Thanks again!

Homala

[Carnevale]

What a terrific review - thanks so much for sharing your experiences. My DH and I will be on the Veendam Oct 11 to 22 (Quebec City to Ft. Lauderdale) so we really value your insights.

 

We are wondering if you can tell us if you noticed much ballroom dancing on the Veendam? Were there any times in the daily program set aside for dancing? Was the Ocean Bar floor used much?

 

Also, if you had a chance to enjoy the music in the Ocean Bar, can you share your thoughts on its quality and what kind of tunes they played?

 

We have been away from HAL for a number of years (trying several other lines) and are looking forward to being back on a HAL sailing. But as avid ballroom dancers, we are wondering if HAL still will have as many opportunities for dancing as they did in the past. Any insights you can pass along will be greatly appreciated.

[sail7seas]

Great Review.

Lots of information and very enjoyable reading.

Sorry about the poor experience in Pinnacle. What do you think was the cause?

 

Thanks so much for a wonderful review.

That's a great cruise.

[sail7seas]

Oh, ya........

 

 

Just to avoid confusion, the big fiddle is on the pier in Sydney. :)

When walking to downtown from the ship, notice they have hung small fiddles on the light poles so you know the route. :) It's a short walk.

 

[tone]

Sail7Seas

 

thanks for the correction...yes Big Fiddle is in Sydney...got a bit confused there.

[tone]

Sail7Seas

 

On your comment about Pinnacle, not sure what the reason was...could be because it was the first night but judging from the comments of others, it seems there is a quite a high expectation if you are being charged extra, especially if your experience in the main dining room is already good. The aim of Pinnacle should be to exceed everyone's expectation in terms of the amount and quality of food and over the top service that it is so much superior to the main dining room that it is very, very hard to get a reservation.

[tone]

Carnevele

 

I am not much of a dancer but did notice people dancing every night. It was not crowded and there was ballroom dancing playing mostly around meal times.

 

You should have a great time as the dance floor was not crowded and lots of opportunity for ballroom dancing.

[Carnevale]

Carnevele

 

I am not much of a dancer but did notice people dancing every night. It was not crowded and there was ballroom dancing playing mostly around meal times.

 

You should have a great time as the dance floor was not crowded and lots of opportunity for ballroom dancing.

 

Thanks Tone!

[MOcruiserman]

Tone,

 

We were on the same cruise as you. It was our first cruise and we had a wonderful time. I agree with everything you said but I'd like to add a few things.

1-The staff were super nice. I was very impressed.

2-We had an interior cabin - room 513. Though it was small it was adequate for our needs. The room was very quiet and the bed was extremely comfortable.

3-The decor of the ship was elegant - much nicer than I expected after seeing photos of other ships.

4-The food was good overall. I had one disappointing meal at the Rotterdam but never had a problem finding something good to eat at the Lido. The coffee was initially too weak but my pushy sister (who traveled with us) complained and the coffee improved!

5-I really enjoyed the entertainment, especially the two opera singers at the Showroom at Sea. Also the piano player at the piano bar (John McD?) was excellent.

6-The ports were interesting. My favorites were Bar Harbor, Charlottetown and, of course, Quebec City, a terrific place.